Christmas 2023: Columbus

The Christmas season started becoming magical again in my adult life when we started going to both Miller and Yoder Christmases in one whirlwind of a trip. Suddenly, all my Christmas hate slipped away and I began really looking forward to this long holiday Levent and I take together. We've been lucky so far that we don't have to pick one family over the other and can do both. I know it won't always be this way, but so far, it's been really great.

We started our trip this year in the midst of a deep polar plunge and tons of wintery advisories. The day we left for Ohio, we decided to just make a game decision during our drive. If it was getting too bad, we would stop. Thankfully we made it all the way to Columbus without any accidents and we were behind the storm enough that it did not get bad for us until we reached the Indiana/Ohio border. Then it was a mess. Thank God for Levent and his calm driving. We were doing 30 on the interstate and it took us an extra three hours but we got there safely. (We saw so many people in ditches and semis who were not driving slowly. Honestly, I am amazed we made it without any incidents). 

Safe and sound in Columbus

This was the snow packed road in Columbus the next morning, but the roads were this bad for the last three hours of our trip.

The next morning, we sleepily dragged ourselves out of bed and headed out into the cold and snow to brunch at Blake and Brendan's house. It was a very restful day.

Afterwards, we all headed back to the big house (Wilbur and Shirley's) and chilled some more. Shirley always goes above and beyond when decorating for Christmas. That plus the charm of an old house makes the Christmas season feel really magical. It was well below 0 degrees outside; so we spent most of the day chilling under blankets near the fire.

The next day was Christmas day (both on the calendar as well as in the Miller household). We started the day with cream buns (which I had never heard of before joining the Miller clan) and coffee, opened a few gifts Shirley got for us (including the pups), played the infamous marble game (another Southern Ontario thing), enjoyed Christmas dinner, puzzled, and snacked. It was a lovely day.

Levent trying out the massager on Tito

The next day was our last full day in Columbus. We started the day off with a Turkish brunch (which is a Christmas tradition), went to see a movie (also a Christmas tradition) and then went out to eat supper at Pierogi Mountain.

The following day, Levent and I hitched a ride to Harrisonburg with Blake and Brendan in their new Tesla (!!!). But this brings me to... 

Part 2

After being in Harrisonburg for a few day (which you'll read about in my next post). We headed back up to Columbus on New Years Eve. It was fun to actually celebrate New Years Eve with family instead of just driving back to Kansas. (Not that it was ever even on the table. It would've been an impossibly long day if we would've tried anyway). Columbus made a nice pit stop for us, and a celebratory one at that. Shirley made fondue (both cheese and chocolate). I made us a cranberry gin and tonic batch cocktail and we chilled by the fire and puzzled late into the night. (I didn't make it all the way to midnight, calling it quits around 11 since we were going to drive home the next day).

Unfortunately for me, the Christmas season ended on a weird note as I quietly had a long, 12 hour build up to a panic attack when we got home. For some reason my travel anxiety, which usually does not rear its head when I travel on road trips with Levent, was out of control. I barely could drive without wanting to panic. My body and mind were convinced that a car (or worse, a semi) was going to plough right into us the entire time. Poor Levent had to drive most of the way home. (He's such a trooper). And when we got into our house and I finally felt safe, I had a panic attack. 

I was (and am) really discouraged by this as I feel like my anxiety about traveling is making my world so small (especially since I barely leave my house in general). I love my trips with Levent and don't want my anxiety to ruin them. I guess it's something I'll work out in therapy and hopefully our next road trip won't have me in panic mode.

Anxiety is weird.

But we had a very lovely Christmas 2022.